Sulfur hexafluoride (SF.sub.6) circuit breakers for interrupting high line fault currents often require a high value capacitance to be present at their terminals, e.g. a capacitance of several thousand picofarads. In conventional (i.e. non-metal clad) circuit breaker technology, this capacitance is housed in porcelain which, for installation purposes, is necessarily large in size.
An object of the invention is to provide a circuit breaker having a capacitor of greatly reduced total volume.
Another object of the invention is to provide a circuit breaker in which the capacitor is no longer connected to the terminals of the circuit breaker when the circuit breaker is in the disengaged position.